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Suggestions for the best ~$500 laptop

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its a four-year old gateway, and is really starting to crap out. That battery lasts about 20 mins, both hinges on her screen are cracked, and the monitor has a hard time staying up now (same thing as what avenger is saying about his), and it is starting to smell like burning due to, I think, the ac cord jack starting to melt.

haha, and yes, she does really like pink. If you are liking your toshiba, i'll check them out and maybe i can convince her. As for the Lenovos- it's probably gonna be a no-go. She wants to stick with Dell/gateway/toshiba.

 
If waiting is an option, I'd wait around for a deal to pop up and jump on it. The Dell Vostro 1400 with a T5270 Core 2 Duo cpu was available for $419 about two weeks ago. Jumped to $479, and now it's $579.

May as well get more for your money when you can.
 
Why don't you chip in maybe $350 and get a refurbed Macbook?
When she sees it she's going to be like "OMG this is wonderful! Sooo cute! Muah!", kisses you violently, and you two off to shag for a couple of hours.
 
#
Warranty Terms - Parts
1 year limited
#
Warranty Terms - Labor
1 year limited
#
Product Height
1.6"
#
Product Width
14.3"
#
Product Weight
6 lbs.
#
Product Depth
10.5"
#
Processor Brand
Intel®
#
Processor
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core
#
Processor Speed
1.6GHz
#
Display Type
WXGA widescreen TFT-LCD with TruBrite technology (1280 x 800)
#
Screen Size
15.4"
#
System Bus
533MHz
#
Cache Memory
1MB on die Level 2
#
System Memory (RAM)
1GB
#
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To
2GB
#
Type of Memory (RAM)
PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM
#
Hard Drive Type
Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
#
Hard Drive Size
120GB
#
Optical Drive
Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
#
Optical Drive Speeds
4x DVD+R DL; 4x DVD-R DL; 8x8x8 DVD+RW; 8x6x8 DVD-RW; 5x DVD-RAM; 24x16x24 CD-RW
#
Direct-Disc Labeling
No
#
Digital Media Reader or Slots
No
#
Graphics
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
#
Video Memory
128MB-251MB (shared)

Just found that at Best Buy for $391, and to throw another gig or RAM it would be not much more.
 
what is ^ ? a mac? vista? XP? someone noted that Vista would be a big MINUS to whatever you bought. check slickdeals or better yet, fatwallet.com.
edit: if you're shopping @ bb, check sku 8648118 its a Toshiba @ $599. 2gb ram.
 
I'm a little surprised that no one mentioned the Asus 7-inch notebook. The size is a major plus for lugging to class, only 2 pounds. It's wifi but I wonder if the Linus OS is compatible with the school's network. DaedalCipher, from what your girlfriend is looking to do, the EEEPC seems doable. Only thing is the memory-- only 4GB. I'm a little surprised that she would fill up half of a 55gb drive with Word docs and notes. Anyhow, we've got it...

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4206912

...and she still would have enough for an external hard drive.
 
Originally posted by: Parasitic
When she sees it she's going to be like "OMG this is wonderful! Sooo cute! Muah!", kisses you violently, and you two off to shag for a couple of hours.
Click to expand...

Um...

That's what wives are for...

Girl friend = half a mortgage payment! 😉


 
Originally posted by: bill hilly
I'm a little surprised that no one mentioned the Asus 7-inch notebook. The size is a major plus for lugging to class, only 2 pounds. It's wifi but I wonder if the Linus OS is compatible with the school's network. DaedalCipher, from what your girlfriend is looking to do, the EEEPC seems doable. Only thing is the memory-- only 4GB. I'm a little surprised that she would fill up half of a 55gb drive with Word docs and notes. Anyhow, we've got it...

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4206912

...and she still would have enough for an external hard drive.
Click to expand...

well not only is the network thing a concern, but software compatibility may be as well. one of my classes *requires* using office 2007 formats for submission :-/

however, ASUS now has a $399 Eee with Windows XP on it, and it comes with an extra 4gb flash card for storage.

but i cant imagine anyone wanting one of those for their "daily driver"
so to speak, without at least an external keyboard, mouse and monitor.
 
we ended up buying that Toshiba for 391, then added two gigs of ram for another 45 bucks. Total after tax came to 465 or so. Thanks to everyone for their help. I appreciate it.

oh yeah, and the 25 gigs she uses are mostly taken up my music.
 
I'd say eee PC, but as xSauronx said it's not optimal for your main PC, I'm not sure what kind of resoution that thing can drive on an external monitor.
 
Originally posted by: DaedalCipher
we ended up buying that Toshiba for 391, then added two gigs of ram for another 45 bucks. Total after tax came to 465 or so...
Click to expand...

Smart move! 😉
 
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